Ryan Klesko deserves better. He played too well for too long to be discarded like last week's TV Guide.

But hardball is a hard business at the big league level, and Klesko is now nine months removed from his last competitive swing. The Padres have made do as he recovers from shoulder surgery, and they are disinclined to make room for his return. Accordingly, Klesko has been asked to waive the no-trade clause in his contract in order to expedite his exit.

“It's a crazy business we're in,” said Kevin Towers, the Padres' general manager. “You're one day's hero and the next day somebody new comes along and they forget about you.”

Towers has not forgotten Klesko's peak productivity when the Padres were pushing the envelope of ineptitude at Qualcomm Stadium – he hit 30 homers and drove home 113 runs in 2001 – but Towers remembers, too, that his ultimate responsibility is to get results.

Because first base belongs to Adrian Gonzalez now and left field has become Dave Roberts' territory, Klesko will project as a pricey pinch hitter once he's completed his rehabilitation.

Or, more sensibly, as an American League designated hitter. With a contract due to expire at season's end – Towers said the chances of the Padres exercising Klesko's 2007 option are “nil” – the handwriting on the wall should be legible in Latvia.

If some other team were willing to take him, then, Klesko ought to embrace the opportunity as if it were Keira Knightley. Frankly, if he's not yet prepared to pack up, his only other option may be to pack it in.

This is regrettable, but inevitable. Only four players have hit more home runs for the Padres than has Klesko. Only Ken Caminiti has played 500 games or more for the Friars and maintained a higher OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage). Yet with declining speed and deteriorating defense, Klesko was no lock to keep his starting job this season before his shoulder required surgery.

The April operation simply rescheduled Klesko's day of reckoning. When Klesko's rehab assignment starts, the Padres will have 20 days to activate him or return him to the disabled list. If there are no takers at that time, the Padres will have to weigh whether Klesko's potential contributions are worth clearing a roster spot.

“A lot of teams want help out there, but honestly I want to help this team,” Klesko said during the Padres' last homestand. “I'm not worried about other teams. I want to help these guys. I've been here a long time, and I want to bring the championship to the fans here. But you've always got to weigh your options.

“I don't want to leave here, but if it comes down to them saying, 'Hey, Ryno, we've got a place to play (elsewhere) and we don't have a place to play (here),' I'll have to make a decision.”

This was before Towers painted the big picture for Klesko with dark shading; before Roberts returned from the disabled list; before Gonzalez's five-hit game against Oakland. Klesko's quotes, in fact, date from June 23, and it is a sad sign of his eroding significance that it has taken me this long to get them into print.

Something else always seemed more pressing. With no scheduled start for Klesko's rehab assignment and no definitive return date, his status reports excited little curiosity. He was out of sight, out of mind and, as the season progressed, largely out of luck.

“What's frustrating is not doing it (the surgery) in the offseason,” he said. “The way it hit me, it happens right in spring training. If it had flamed up two months (earlier), I would have been playing in May. Instead of playing six months, I'm playing maybe two.”

Klesko figures it will take him two weeks of “full-bore” swinging to regain his stroke, and that his throwing timetable would follow two or three weeks later. This would mean it would be mid-September, at a minimum, before Klesko could be functional in the field.

“Wherever they need me, I don't care,” he said. “I'll come out of the 'pen and become a left-handed specialist. I was drafted as a pitcher. Who says I can't come back and do that?”

Who, indeed? Kevin Towers remembers Klesko as a high school pitcher with a quality curve ball and a fastball that reached the low 90s. Left-handed pitchers have lasted a long time with a lot less.

No matter how menial the task, Ryan Klesko is prepared to pitch in.

“You want me to run and get some (sunflower) seeds or some coffee for some guys?” he said. “I've been doing that for the last couple of months.”